Doctor Who Series 2011 |OT| Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff

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Ten months ago, I created the Official Doctor Who Series 1, 5, 31, or Fnarg Thread of Moffat & Smith. The thread would go on to garner over 6,000 posts and over 130 pages of discussion - well, over 65 pages for the 100-posts-a-page master race. Obviously, I'm not taking credit for that. No, I'm giving all the credit to the excellent season of sci-fi tomfoolery generously provided by the BBC, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan et al. It was so good, in fact, that some thought it was, well, the best series ever - or at least one of the best. I find it hard to disagree.

At the time of writing, the Series 5 DVD (and Blu-ray) has been officially released in the UK, to be followed in the US the day afterwards. Also, we're anticipating Doctor Who's annual Christmas special; this being Moffat and Smith's first crack at one. This special is a precursor to what is apparently two series of Doctor Who in the coming year. Unusually, the series will be split into two blocks that will air in the spring and autumn respectively. More info on that in the "News" section near the bottom of the post. For the sake of convenience, I titled this thread Series 2011, though - technically speaking - it's the thread for the following things:

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010

Doctor Who Series 2, 6, 32 or Otter

Doctor Who Series 3, 7, 33 or Random Word

I'll be doing my utmost to make this OP a good guide to the series ahead; a potentially limitless fountain of knowledge; a hub for all things Who. Feel free to make suggestions and/or corrections. I am, after all, just one man. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the previous thread as much as I did.

Merry Christmas, WhoGAF.

Spoilers concerning episodes not yet aired are to be spoiler tagged. Discussions about episodes that have aired in the UK, however, are not to be spoiler tagged. Not only does this prevent the thread from looking like a giant barcode - which benefits no-one - but it allows members to pick out real spoilers from plot points about episodes they've already seen.

This isn't an effort to be unkind and exclude people, it's simply an issue of practicalities.

Thank you.

Series 6:

April 23rd - all good countries near you

Series 1, 5, 31, or Fnarg Spoilers Ahead:

We were introduced to the eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Matt Smith) as he met young Amelia Pond and gorged himself on fish fingers and custard. Having to prevent his TARDIS from doing something undoubtedly explodey wodey, he attempted to jump five minutes into the future - and only missed it by twelve years. Needless to say, The Doctor and a considerably older, more embittered Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) would go on to save the world and then travel time and space; where they prevented the torture of a, ahem, "star whale", foiled the plans of The Weeping Angels and, um, taught an exploding World War 2 British scientist/booby-trapped Dalek android how to love and, uh, not explode. No, I didn't get it either.

During their travels, they encountered River Song (Alex Kingston) - a mysterious woman from The Doctor's past and future who carries round a big book of "spoilers". It was revealed, before she was handily teleported to - I'm assuming - prison that she was convicted of killing a man: "the best man [she'd] ever known." Hmm, intriguing.

Naturally, something had to disrupt this lovely equilibrium. The disruption came in the form of Amy admitting to The Doctor that she was, in fact, due to get married the day after the night she left sleepy Leadworth to travel time and space. Then, as you do, she tried to seduce the 907-year-old Time Lord. Evidently, the TARDIS is equipped with the universe's coldest shower, and so The Doctor endeavoured to fix Amy's relationship with would-be husband, Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) - by taking him with them.

And what a time they had! Thwarting vampires (well, fish-space-vampires) in Venice, butting heads with the reality altering Dream Lord and really making a mess of diplomatic relations with a race of underground humanoid reptiles. Sadly, Rory was shot in the chest by a laser and then erased from existence after his body was sucked through a crack in time. That'll hurt in the morning.

The Doctor and Amy - who had forgotten her fiancé who never was - carried on together. They validated Vincent Van Gogh's existence and The Doctor stayed with James Corden for a bit. Then it was time for the big finale...

The Doctor's allies through time teamed up to bring him a warning - a Van Gogh painting of an exploding Tardis, complete with date and co-ordinates. The Doc, with Amy in toe, transported himself to Roman Britain - where they encountered River Song. Together, the three then went to Stone Henge, discovering the Pandorica (a box said to contain "the most dangerous warrior in the universe" within it) in "The Underhenge" beneath it. Oh, and the Pandorica was opening. Some good news though - Rory inexplicably returned as a Roman centurion.

Only, wait, oh dear. Turned out that Rory - along with the rest of the Roman army - was actually a plastic robot programmed by an alliance of The Doctor's greatest enemies (and some former allies) to help imprison our beloved protagonist in the Pandorica. The Doctor pleaded with them to change their minds - if they locked him up, he wouldn't be able to prevent the universe from ending, after all. Unfortunately, they didn't listen. Elsewhere, Amy managed to remember who Rory was; just in time for him to momentarily give in to his programming and, you know, shoot her to death. Meanwhile, River Song was trapped in an exploding TARDIS. Now this is where it gets complicated, a bit wibbly wobbly and timey wimey, so I'm afraid Wikipedia is in order: The Big Bang.

So, essentially, The Doctor healed the cracks, Amy married Rory and got her family back and River Song promised everything would soon change (and that she was sorry, so sorry). Now we join The Doctor, Amy and Rory as they carry on their adventures and, in their spare time, search for what actually made the TARDIS explode and await the time... when silence falls.

What is Doctor Who?
Essentially - and this is hugely underselling it - it's a British sci-fi show that began in 1963 and, a sixteen year gap aside, continues to run into its 32nd series and 771st episode this year. More specifically, it's a show about a 907-year-old alien time traveller and an assortment of companions travelling through time and space, going through genres as quickly as they do historical periods and saving the world, the universe and, if they have the time, Space Florida time and time again.

Will I have to do a ton of catching up if I want to get into it then?
The short answer, no. The long answer, no, you can get into the show at any time - even during the series - thanks to the lead writer intentionally dispersing "getting on points" throughout episodes; but there's a lot there if you do want to watch up. There's the 31 previous series - divided into 26 'Old Who' series and five 'New Who' series - two spin-offs (The Sarah Jane Adventures for the young'uns and Torchwood for the, ahem, 'more mature' audience), a TV movie, books, audiobooks, boardgames, a videogame and, well, pretty much everything you can think of.

What's the format of the show?
Thirteen 45 minute episodes a year, accompanied by an hour-long Christmas special, which airs later in the year, surprisingly, at Christmas. This format can change slightly but by and large remains the same.

If I were so inclined, what is the recommended watching?
Different people will give you different lists, but generally, if you're going to watch New Who, this is the cream of the crop (or just the ones with important story elements, whatever). Series finales and openers are always included - because they're important to the story - but they can be of questionable quality. The best episodes will usually be within the series:

Series 1 (27):

Rose

Dalek

The Empty Child [Part 1]

The Doctor Dances [Part 2]

Bad Wolf [Part 1] [Series Finale]

The Parting of the Ways [Part 2]

Series 2 (28):

The Christmas Invasion

Tooth and Claw

The Girl in the Fireplace

The Impossible Planet

The Satan Pit

Army Of Ghosts [Part 1] [Series Finale]

Doomsday [Part 2]

Series 3 (29):

The Runaway Bride

Smith and Jones

Gridlock

42

Human Nature [Part 1]

Family of Blood [Part 2]

Blink

Utopia [Part 1] [Series Finale]

Sound of Drums [Part 2]

Last of the Time Lords [Part 3]

Series 4 (30):

Partners in Crime

Silence in the Library [Part 1]

Forest of the Dead [Part 2]

Midnight

The Stolen Earth [Part 1] [Series Finale]

Journey's End [Part 2]

'The Specials':

The Waters of Mars

The End of Time [2-Parter] [Series Finale]

Series 1, 5, 31, 2010 or Fnarg (31):

The Eleventh Hour

The Beast Below

Time of Angels [Part 1]

Flesh and Stone [Part 2]

Vampires in Venice

Amy's Choice

Vincent and The Doctor

The Lodger

The Pandorica Opens [Part 1] [Series Finale]

The Big Bang [Part 2]

What are the basics of Doctor Who lore?
The expanded Doctor Who universe is as - if not more - massive and daunting as something like Star Wars or, um, Star Trek. Or Stargate.

The basics then: The Doctor is a 900ish-year-old (it changes depending on who you ask - and he's aged a few hundred years since the start of the series) Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He has two hearts, a sonic screwdriver that does almost everything - but it doesn't work on wood - and can regenerate when fatally injured, which handily explains the eleven (canon) actors who have portrayed him. He can supposedly only regenerate twelve times, and has used ten of these up [UPDATE: it's been confirmed there is now no limit on regenerations]. Time will only tell if he can escape this death clause [he has]. Aliases include John Smith, Doctor Who (as in "The Doctor? Doctor Who?") and his real name, *inaudible whisper*. He is the last of his kind; his species having been destroyed in the Time War with the Daleks, which is time locked... although both sides have found ways to escape the conflict on numerous occasions.

He travels in The TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). Its chameleon circuit malfunctioned, leaving it stuck disguised as a blue police telephone box. The TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside, with sprawling staircases and corridors, a swimming pool, a library... most of which you oddly never see on-camera. It travels in space and time, impressively - and has also been known to inconveniently pop into alternate dimensions. Oh, also, it's kind of sentient. Doesn't say much, mind you.

Traditionally, The Doctor travels with a 'Companion' or 'Assistant'. In New Who, he'll usually have a primary female companion and occasionally a male supplementary companion who'll tag along for an adventure or two. Currently, The Doctor travels with young, attractive, ginger Amy Pond and her new husband, Rory. That's not as boring as it sounds by the way.

The enemies/monsters are part of what makes Doctor Who. There are the iconic pepperpot-shaped Daleks, the steel-coated Cybermen, the growth-stunted, potato-headed Sontarans, the inanimate-only-when-you're-looking Weeping Angels, the dastardly bastard that is The Doctor's fellow Time Lord, The Master - who's dead... for now. Basically, it's a long list and you wouldn't want to read it in its entirety. Probably.

How does time travel work in Doctor Who?
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey... stuff. It will pay to remember this.

I'm American. How do I watch the latest series if I don't want to torrent it (like a monster)?
I'm reliably informed that the new series of Doctor Who will likely air two weeks after the UK on - surprise imminent - BBC America. Watch this space - and the start dates above - for confirmation.

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Also Those episode recommendations need fixing. No Family Of Blood from Season 3? Actually recommending people watch the finale of season 3 (people should watch Utopia then fill in something awesome themselves rather than watch what really happens). And No Amy's Choice in S5

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Also Those episode recommendations need fixing. No Family Of Blood from Season 3? Actually recommending people watch the finale of season 3 (people should watch Utopia then fill in something awesome themselves rather than watch what really happens). And No Amy's Choice in S5

If I remember correctly, they normally lump the Christmas Special in with the season that follows it - Series 5 being the exception for obvious reasons. That said, they normally only have one big season.

JonathanEx said:

I like how series 3 only matches series 5 in episodes because you sort of have to watch the finales, but that's not for quality reasons.

Those Amazon links are links to Doctor Who searches on the respective sites by the way; not just links to Amazon. Same goes for Twitter. I just wanna save you guys typing. It's a quirk - indulge me.

I received my Blu-ray Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray (just how I roll) early yesterday morning, so I'm going to go finish watching Amy's Choice (If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open a tawdry quirks shop) and then go to sleep. Glad you all like the OP.

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Very excited for some new episodes of DW. By the way, does the US normally get the Christmas eps on the same schedule as all the others (a couple weeks behind)? Series 5 is the first that I've watched real time so I'm not familiar with the process.

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Yeah, the quote integration is why I name quoted you. I didn't mean to come off as sarcastic or insulting. Truth be told, I was planning on posting something about the OP being cool, but you beat me to it. :lol

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I am really not keen on the idea of splitting the series half way through. The old/current system of airing the entire series in one go and then having two specials later on in the year works just fine.

Does anyone anyone know how long the hiatus is going to be anyway? It will be a pain if there is a massive wtf cliffhanger at the end of the first part, like perhaps an unsuspected character is revealed to be a timelord (one can only hope), and then we have to wait three months before it comes back on air.

BOSS

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I didnt get to see Series 5 when it aired in the states, but am so excited to see it. Moffatt in charge and the return of the Angels is enough to get me going. Oh, and Karen Gillan being a yummy lil treat helps too.

I want to wait to get the DVD of Series 5 for my wife for Christmas, since she is the bigger Who fan, but I am so jazzed for Moffat's run I think I will just bite on day one.

As for series 6, I am EXTREMELY excited about the Gaiman episode. How can you NOT be excited about Neil fucking Gaiman writing Doctor Who?